Talking Points: Rick Perry's political land mine

Commentators offer perspectives on Texas Governor Rick Perry.

The Issue: The fight over who will get the Republican presidential nomination and face Democratic President Barack Obama in the 2012 U.S. election heated up in earnest this week. Texas Governor Rick Perry declared his candidacy over the weekend and promptly committed his first gaffe when he called Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke “almost treacherous, or treasonous,” saying “we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas” if Bernanke printed more money (known as “quantitative easing measures” in economic terms). Despite calls to apologize, Perry refused.

It’s abhorrent: Lawrence H. Summers, former Treasury secretary: “This may be the least responsible statement in the modern history of president politics. While there is room for sharp debate over many economic issues, the economic thinking is primitive, the mention of treason is outrageous and the intimation of violence is abhorrent.”

Over the top: Republican party elder Karl Rove on Rick Perry: “You don’t accuse the chairman of the federal reserve of being a traitor to his country. Of being guilty of treason. . . . And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas. You know, that is not, again a presidential statement. . . . If Rick Perry were to be elected president he’d be saddled with Ben Bernanke who has a term. He’s an independent chairman of the Federal Reserve board, appointed by president and confirmed by Congress and serves for a term and the president couldn’t even ask him to resign. . . . So, this is — I hope this is not the first of sort of over-the-top statements.”

Firebrand: Maria Cardona, CNN:“(Perry) announced his candidacy on Saturday and has since campaigned like an angry bull cornered by a Matador. . . . This approach may help win him the nomination, but it also will help lose him the White House. . . . The firebrand technique may endear him to the tea party faithful, but it will alienate him from the critical voting bloc made up of sensible, rational, moderate, mainstream independent and even Republican voters put off by the extreme right-wing factions of their party.”

General-election arsenic: Frank Bruni, New York Times:“And thus did a candidate who appeared so fearsome on the horizon — and who, for now, rides high in polls — come to look somewhat frizzier and patchier in the barnyard upon closer inspection. . . . Perry and Michele Bachmann, with their particular evangelical fervor, frighten many Republicans as much as they do Democrats and could be general-election arsenic.”

Makes me sound like a moderate: Ron Paul on Perry: “Now they have this other governor, I can’t remember his name . . . . He realizes that talking about the Fed is good, too. But I’ll tell you what, he makes me sound like a moderate. I have never once said Bernanke has committed treason.”

No literal harm:Editorial, Wall Street Journal: “(E)verybody knows Mr. Perry meant no literal harm and was indulging the irrational exuberance that is one of his trademarks.”

Targeted: Tony Lee, conservative blog Human Events: “Perry’s comments in Iowa were deliberate . . . . targeted to the state where Perry is seemingly planting his flag: South Carolina. . . . Ron Paul wrote a book titled, End The Fed. Perry wrote a book titled, Fed Up. Coincidence? I think not.”

Comforting, isn’t it: Rachel Farris on Perry’s policies on abstinence, Huffington Post:“Now, while it’s true Texas has the third-highest teen birth rate in the country and also true that a 2005 study found teens in Texas were actually having more sex after undergoing an abstinence-only program, Rick Perry still stands by the practice. Why? Not because there are actually any studies backing him up but ‘from my own personal life,’ Perry told the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith in an interview earlier this year. Comforting, isn’t it?”

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